Kienle Rules Challenge Kraichgau

16 June 2014

Only a few weeks from the big points race in Frankfurt, Sebastian Kienle wanted to test his fitness at the Challenge event in Kraichgau. Thanks to a a surprisingly strong swim, combined with a dominating bike-run performance, the German won with a 6 minute advantage over second place finisher Ronnie Schildknecht.

While Kienle has raced in Kraichgau several times over the past few years, he never won the event close to his home base. This year tough, Kienle aimed for the win: "I was really keen to proof my fitness level in Kraichgau and I'm happy it went that well in all three disciplines." said a happy Kienle after the race. A surprisingly fast swim saw him close to the leading group after 1.9 kilometers in the Hardtsee. On the bike, the Uberbiker quickly moved through the field and continously gained time on his closest rivals. Even strong cyclist Ronnie Schildknecht was unable to keep the gap to Kienle stable. On the last 40 kilometers Kienle turned on the afterburner and grew his lead to over 6 minutes. During the first kilometers on the run, the SCOTT athlete gained even more time on the chase group. On the last kilometers, Kienle slowed down to enjoy his safe win and celebrated with the enthusiastic crowd. "Sometimes if you have no pressure to run fast you can run at a high pace effortlessly." Kienle sumed up his strong performance on the closing run split.